Coal Mine Blast Kills 3 in West Virginia

Published 12:13 pm, Monday, April 25, 2016

A methane gas explosion in a coal mine air shaft Wednesday killed three workers and injured three others who had to be rescued from more than 900 feet below the surface.

The workers, who had been digging the new shaft, were about 60 feet from reaching the mine when the explosion occurred, officials said.

About an hour later, two sheriff's deputies descended 940 feet into the earth to retrieve the survivors after local emergency workers declined, saying they were not trained for such a rescue.

"Nobody would get the guys out, so we had to jump in," Deputy Brent Wharry said. "We just did what we do every day. This one is just blown out of proportion."

As smoke wafted from the 25-foot-wide hole, Wharry and Deputy Steve Cook climbed into a 5-foot-wide bucket attached to a crane that lowered them to where the injured workers were.

"It was a long trip down and a long trip back, but what happened in between was something you can't describe," Wharry said. "The whole deal, going in there, I just don't want to talk about it. I just wish anybody would do that if it was me (down there)."

The bodies of the three dead miners were removed from the northern West Virginia mine about 12 hours after the blast. Officials identified them as David Abel, 47, and Richard Mount, 37, both from Ohio; and Harry Roush III, 23, from Pennsylvania.

The father of one of the injured men said his son, Aaron Meyer, 28, had been treated and released from a local hospital.

"I saw my boy was OK and that's all I needed," Paul Meyer said.

The other injured workers were still hospitalized.

Benjamin Bair, 23, was in critical condition with second-degree burns and multiple fractures, said Dr. Alain Corcos of Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh. Crew boss Richard Brumley, 51, was in serious condition with second-degree burns, puncture wounds and a concussion, but was expected to be released soon, Corcos said.

Tests indicated that methane caused the explosion, though investigators had not determined where it came from or what ignited it, according to Terry Farley of the state office of Miners' Health Safety and Training.

An investigation was planned for Thursday by state and federal officials, along with representatives of Consol Energy Inc., which operates the mine near the southwestern border of Pennsylvania, and Central Cambria Drilling of Ebensburg, Pa., a contractor hired to dig the air shaft.

The McElroy mine, which employs about 400 people, produces coal from a seam that is known to release methane, Farley said.

"Whether they had penetrated the coal seam at the time … I don't know," he said.

The mine was not affected by the explosion and operations continued Wednesday.

The deaths are the first mine-related fatalities in West Virginia this year, Farley said. The state had six mining deaths in 2002.